Saturday, 24 May 2014

12 months of ARki: Augmented Reality Architecture

Well
for those of you that haven't come across the technology, it's a really
interesting medium to describe the narrative behind the design process in an
interactive manner. ARki
was a starting point to see how we could take all these architectural models
that exist already in every design firm and convert them into tools which allow
the user to explore the design in a more immersive way. Ideally
the challenge was predominantly concerned with design communication of
architectural drawings, and how you could package architectural models for a
mass audience. We
weren't just concerned with illustrating 3-D models in augmented reality alone,
the main focus of this product was to create bespoke interactive solutions that
really explain the narrative of the design in an innovative way.

Over
the last 12 months we have had lots of interesting projects that have allowed
us to push the boundaries of what is actually possible within augmented reality
architectural visualisation. Of
course the main challenge has been to do with the fact that
architects don't really work with low polygon models and we spend the
majority of our time trying to optimise these very complex high detail models
down to something which can be converted into AR. But
putting technicalities aside the main challenge for us is always on how we can
create interactive environments that truly describe the key functionalities of
each architectural design in real-time.

The
main question I guess is why is ARki more useful than traditional visualisation
techniques and why does making an augmented reality app demonstrate the
building any better than an animation or 2-D visual. Well usually I would
answer that question by simply asking clients to have fun exploring the app followed
by 10 to 15 minutes of playtime....

For
those who have had the experience of playing with the App you know that ARki is
in fact pretty self explanatory, but for those of you
who haven't had the pleasure of downloading ARki, let me take this opportunity
to break down some of the fundamental perks of this app.

So
like any standard 3-D animation, ARki is capable of demonstrating pretty much any
form of animation that is already achievable within traditional architectural
visualisation with the added bonus that you get to control these animations in
real-time. That
means you can demonstrate any key parameter that is unique to the
design such as solar shading, wind circulation, design options, material
options, sustainability and so much more at the click of a button, or in this
case at the click of multiple buttons depending on how many features you want
to showcase. On top of this, you get to view these models at any scale, anywhere in physical space, and in any angle you wish to experience the building, because for the first time since physical model making was invented, your ARki models exist in Augmented Reality, superimposed virtual models in the real-world, because funny enough Architects really do enjoy viewing their building designs from all sorts of funny angles.

Don't believe me? well why not take this opportunity to find out for your self by downloading ARki on the app store and let us know what you think....

We
have had lots of fun with ARki so far and every project has brought tons of new
potential for the platform in general. The main highlight for us has been being
able to add new interactivity features that are unique to each project, and
it's really exciting to see how each feature described the narrative of the
design from a new perspective. Looking forward to many more years of ARki mayhem.